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I read the report somewhere last week that donations to Covid-19 account with CBN is about N27 Billion now, but I have not read anywhere or from anyone where a little percentage like N1Billion which is less than 5% of the money is set aside by government in support of research efforts in our Universities
According to Metro UK newspaper on 26th March, The international race to find a vaccine against coronavirus has been boosted by a UK pledge of £210 million, the largest single contribution from any one country. The donation was announced by Boris Johnson following a virtual G20 Summit and raises the total amount of UK aid spent fighting coronavirus to £540 million.
From University of Oxford website I gathered also three Oxford-based COVID-19 projects are among the first to benefit from a share of £20 million in government investment with Imperial College London
So the nagging question remains what stops Nigerian government in funding research efforts in Universities of Ibadan, University of Lagos, University of Ilorin, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ahmadu Bello University and University of Nigeria Nsukka respectively
N200Million grant for each of the top universities will go a long way in supporting research efforts in overcoming challenges posed by Coronavirus and portion of money generated presently should be for R & D and not for palliatives which is distributed with lopsided sentiments along ethnic lines and north-south dichotomy
#justscribblingmythoughts
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